Unfair

How to spell unfair

6 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce unfair

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does unfair mean?

1. adjectiveNot based on fairness, justice, or equal treatment.

Unfair in a sentence

• The workers felt the new pay structure was deeply unfair.

• It seems unfair to charge some customers more for the same product.

Where does unfair come from?

Language of origin: Germanic

This is a native English compound built from two old Germanic pieces. The prefix 'un-' comes from Old English and means simply 'not', reversing or negating whatever follows it. The root 'fair' descends from Old English 'fæger', which originally meant 'beautiful' or 'pleasing to look at' before its sense broadened to cover what is just, balanced, and free from bias. By the time 'unfair' is recorded as a settled word (with the modern 'not just' meaning becoming common from the 1700s onward), the moral sense of 'fair' had largely overtaken the older 'beautiful' meaning. Because both halves are plain Anglo-Saxon and spelled exactly as they sound, the word holds no hidden traps; the only thing to watch is the single 'r' at the end, matching its parent 'fair'.

How the word is built

• un- (not)
• fair (just, equitable)